joeninety

.... and think of the weight saving too!! On a serious note, I dont think Sherco have any lip on their spacer tube. I could easily push it out the way with my drift. Mine has some draught excluder wrapped around the middle to keep the spacer tube centralised for re-assembly.

Something I try and do is preserve my clutch finger for just sections. When riding between or waiting in a queue I will either use my all fingers or the two middle fingers and then when I'm about to start the section switch to my index finger. I also have my clutch biting near the bars as I feel I have more control of the lever with with finger wrapped around it.

Try this... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221286069311 Cheers!

I just thought I'd post some piccies of the modifications I made to my standard DC rack for the lighting board. As you can see from the photos the lights and number board are all attached perminately to the rack. The off-side light has the number board illuminator blanked off so there is no visable white light from that side. The near-side lamp nicely luminates the rectangular number board. To attach all of this I got two lengths of captive nut channel used with 19" rack (electrical rack cabinets that is) equipment tack welded to the rack and then everything just bolts straight to it. With regards to the electrics the near side has a plug that plugs into the car socket, this then goes to another socket attached to the rack and then splits off for the nearside lights. The off side rack has a plug which goes to the off-side lights and this plugs into the near-side rack socket. I used a cavavan type socket and plug for this to make it error proof. I think bringing the lights to pretty much the extremity of the rack is a good thing and I don't like number boards hung from bikes and also I'm not convinced how legal a short board strapped to the rack under the bike is...

Some amazing riding going on there but what looked like a fairly sealed room with just one small fan concerned me slightly... High on 2T!!

Agree with copemech, when I did my Sherco fork seals i followed some instruction I found on the web that were quite compreshensive. My seals were leaking but in quite good condition but they had totally lost there suppelness. Once you get to the point of using the stantion as a slide hammer to remove seal and bushes I thought this would be small light taps but I ended up clamping leg in a vice and putting the top half of the tripple clamp on the stantion and using all my weight to slide hammer the stantion out.This is quite un-nerving to start with but once the seals start to move its not too bad. Once you've assembled and replaced the oil don't be fooled in thinking something is wrong as when you first push down on the forks. In my experience until the oil and air sort themselves out inside the forks they don't feel right. Riding around for 15mins pulling lots of small wheelies seems to sort this...

Crikey, sorry to hear about your injury. Thanks for pointing this product out, it looks the business without looking like a MX'er and it looks like theres loads of dealers who stock it. To me £130ish doesn't seem too expensive when (in my experience) trials jeans are atleast £90 and start to fall apart within a few months and trials tops are about £50 and are no more than a gloryfied tee-shirt. Its even got me thinking that the 'pro pants' might be worth a look at £140 and then just get a pair of cheap jogging leggings to go over the top...

I don't own either but have rode a Evo 4T 300 and a 4RT 250 (old model) and from a riding perspective I'd say there's not a lot between them, Beta has better steering lock, Montesa had a better suspension feel and felt more plush, both need work on the clutch to resolve the switch like feel but I'm sure neither is going to affect your results positively or negitively on a Sunday. But, if it were my cash I'd buy a new Montesa on the basis of build quality, fuel injection and for me the single biggest factor, depreciation. 7-8 year old Montesa's are still fetching £2k - £3k whereas a thers's a 3 year old Evo on ebay for £2.5k and in a year or two that'll be worth about £1.5k.... I also think the new 4RT-260 looks the business!

This quote from 'ourian' is a really valid comment. When walking a section I look for bail out points on obstacles. For example, if there's a tough incline I will look places I would rather fall (to miss a sticking up tree stump for example). Also, try and bail out while you are still in control of the bike, on a incline don't wait until the front wheel is 4 feet off the deck and you're hanging off the back (you'll be getting a five by this stage anyway), bail while both wheels are on the ground, lean the bike over and dig the bars into the ground and slide down the hill on your a*** rather than the other option of landing on your head closely followed by bike... Same applies on most obstacles really. Also better to get over/up/down an obstacle and sort your composure out once it's cleared, i.e. with inclines, get enough momentum to get up it with some to spare and if you need a dab at the top to make a gate so be it! Better than a 5 with the bike on top of you... Finally, don't be to precious about your bike (easier said than done) be prepared to jump clear and let the bike tumble. Levers are cheap, cable tie your back mudguard on, that's the bits that normally break otherwise bikes are fairly robust to "clubmen" off's!

Especially when one lives on the South Coast! Just to clear up something from a previous comment "Any blow to the head which remains painful a day or two later is worth having checked out by a medical practitioner", my head didn't hurt the next day or after, it was only when I went to put my helmet on too ride again a day or so later it hurt, hence my conclusion that I was okay it was just a bruise.

I take your point 'totty79' that maybe the helmet isn't the right shape for me, I will be more aware of this when with my next purchase. I realise they all surpass the minimum standard, a bit like a cheap car tyre suprpass' the minimum standard but a twice price Michelin is much better in the wet so hence maybe a twice the price helmet might offer more cushioning??? I know with the increase in price, factors such as weight, comfort, airflow, buckle release ease etc get better. @cleanorbust, thanks for your concern, I feel fine and the bump seems to have gone now. The experience was similar to "hitting your head on the garage door" or "bending down to get something and hitting your head on furniture on the way up", these things happening everyday to people and I would imagine very few get seen by a doc! Also, going back to the shape of the helmet I definitely remember the sensation of my head hitting the inside of the helmet, hence the bump the next day.

Hi, After having a mild crash last week were I didn't have enough momentum up a small steep rooty climb and the bike flipped. I fell off the back cracking the back of my head on the hard stoney ground. At this point there was a sequence of events that went something like this, helmet hits ground and stops dead, head then hits inside of helmet (reasonably hard) to cause a bump & bruise and when I rode two days later on Saturday the bump must have been quite pronounced and it hurt to wear my helmet. I've had my helmet for about 18 months, it’s a Spada helmet that are fairly cheap but not the cheapest and before anyone asks, the fitment of the helmet is correct. So, I'm in the market for a much better helmet with regards to protection, I know they are all made to the relevant standards but when I once asked a motorcycle shop assistant "how much do I need to spend on a road helmet?" and his reply was "that depends on how much you value your head!"... Well, my head is priceless to me, so what are people’s recommendations and I'd really like to hear from folks that have had a crash experience? On a side note, Saturday after this experience it really made me cringe when I see guys pottering around the car park warming they're bikes up without a lid on, I have no-doubt that if I hadn't been wearing my helmet that could have been "it"... game over! Cheers, Gary.

I haven't got one but have been seriously thinking about it, they seem like a good idea and I thought (correct me if I'm mistaken) that at national events they were compulsory? I can see this flowing down to grass roots events within a couple of years, especially ACU events. I observed an event last year and witnessed a runaway bike on my section. It all happen really fast but the rider slipped off the back of the bike and then the bike wheelied into a tree without rider, jammed throttle open then continued to bounce off various obstacles and nearly wiping out a rider in the next section until a couple of guys managed to wrestle the bike to the floor. It travelled about 20 feet without rider! Personally I think the pros way outweigh the cons...

Hi, This thread makes interesting reading. I'm in the market for a new (or newer than what I have at the moment) bike and have been looking at the Ossa TR280i. At present I ride a Sherco and a guy in a club I ride for has a Ossa (2012 model I think) and a couple of weeks back I had a go on it, all I can say is wow! I've riden a few different bikes over the last month or so (2011 Beta, 2012 Factory Sherco, 2008 4RT and a few others) but to me the Ossa felt streets ahead so this made me investigate the bike further as I didn't really know too much about the bike other than it being an FI 2T. So... after some more investigation it seems Ossa have really up'd the design & engineering behind a trials bike and kinda left a lot of the other manufactures bikes looking like dinosours. In my opinion there really has been some thought gone into the engine design. With traditional engine designs, changing crank bearings means the crank case has to be split exposing the gearbox and all the hassle of new crank case gasket, making sure its air tight etc and if you have a gearbox problem again the crank case has to be split removing the barrel, crank etc which means all new gaskets again. With the Osaa it appears the gearbox comes out as a unit by removing the clutch cover, clutch and 5 bolts, take the front sprocket and gear lever off and the complete gear box assy taps out... fantastic, without even having to take the engine out of the frame. Same goes for the crank as the gearbox can be left alone and once the stator, barrel & piston is removed the crank can be extracted through the side of the engine case and there is a cutaway that the small end of the conrod slides through. Thats a really well thought out design. Also the plastics seems really flexible so less chance of breaking mudguards when the envitable crash happens, fuel injection too, no more having carbs apart and fiddling around with jets and settings. 100+:1 fuel / oil mix! bit of a saving there. The bike I rode a couple of weeks back had a great feel to the suspension and the throttle / power was so smooth. I know there have been a few issues with starting but this seems to have been sorted with the optional battery pack. To be honest I'm not sure why they aren't more popular??? Answers on a postcard.... Cheers, Gary.

Easiest way to get barrel replated is to send it to Splat Shop, they then measure it up and send it off to Langcourts with the size required after Nicosil plating. It is then returned to Splat Shop and they select the correct size piston, rings etc. It's then sent back to you. I think on their website there's a price for this service which includes piston (gudgeon pin if i remember correctly), rings & plating. While you're at it you might as well do the small end bearing. The cost of this is not that cheap but no more expensive than going to Langcourts direct and then getting the piston etc from somewhere else. With Splat Shop doing it complete you know its all going to have the correct clearances. The only down side to this is you do lose your barrel for 2-3 weeks but I used used the time to split the cases and put in new crank bearings, seals and also replaced other seals like output drive shaft, kickstart & gear lever. To just do the barrel as mentioned before no special tools needed although you will need a small torque wrench. To split the crank cases to replace main bearings and seals you will need to remove the fly wheel that requires puller and to make things easier I also made a pin bar that locates in the two holes in the flywheel to undo the the flywheel nut. This can be loosened by putting the bike in gear with the rear brake on but as my engine was out of the frame I couldn't do this. I'd recommend removing the engine as this makes working on it so much easier and its fairly easy to get the motor out. You then need to get the clutch basket nut off and the primary gear nut off, these will be tight. After trying various methods to stop the crank and gear train rotating I ended up borrowing a electric rattle gun that removed the two nuts easily. The casings can now be split. Once split tie the gear train together to stop items falling out when you start to clean the sealing faces for new gaskets. Putting it back together is just the reverse. Just take your time and if things aren't going right call it a day and try again the next day refreshed. If you are a member of a club there will be a few people who have done this and if you're not confident get their help, most folks are friendly and love to help out... Hope this helps??

Hi, I own neither of the bikes you mention but have rode both a couple of weeks ago at a trials ground, I also rode the Beta Evo 4T 300cc too. Here's what I thought: Beta - Clutch really grabby, very difficult to smoothly ride in a tight circle. From a bulk perspective the Beta was the slimest but possibly not the most agile feeling machine. If the clutch could be sorted to be a lot less grabby then I have no doubt that this would be a nice machine. Always been a little disapointed that Beta didn't develop the 4T with fuel injection as personally I think this is a positive on the Montesa. Montesa - I've rode 3 of these now, two of them the clutch has been just as grabby as the Beta which makes slow smooth riding difficult (must point out I ride a 2T very much on the clutch) but the Montesa I rode a couple of weeks back had the mitani clutch as was a lot better but still not in the good 2T clutch league. The machine also felt a bit clumbersome and I seemed to need to adjust my riding style quite a bit to stop the front end just skidding forward in tight turns. On positives, build quality is great, sound great & fuel injected. All the riders who ride these machines well ride them quite fast and flowing in sections and in my opion thats why they're called the marmite bike (love em or hate em) depending on your style. Scorpa - I have read reports that this machine is heavy and clumbersome but according to the owner it weights less than a Rev3 and when I rode it it felt very nimble indeed, almost modern 2T like. The clutch was spot on, you could hold it on an incline just using revs & clutch then take off so smoothly and when you open it up it flies. I was riding obstacles as soon as I got on it that I didn't feel confident on the Montesa or Beta. Again the negative in my opinion is lack of fuel injection and the owner said its not easy to work on (rear sub frame off to remove carb etc). Summing up, the Scorpa really suprised me and I have no doubt in a competition I would drop less marks on this than on the Beta or Montesa... My advice is see if you can ride one at a trial. Hope this helps...

Thanks for all the replies. I will now get down to some investigating...

Hi, Myself and a couple of riding mates are looking to do a trial or two away from our local area for a change of scenery. We are based in Hampshire so experience plenty of mud, tree roots, logs etc but fancy riding something a little different. We don't mind travelling and staying overnight for the "right" venue. Our riding level is clubman C route so we are not looking for anything too severe but quite fancy some stream / river riding or mild rocks, the kinda things we don't get down south... Open to all suggestions with the criteria that the venue must be in England or Wales. Please list venue and club that runs the trial and any pictures would be a bonus! Cheers, Gary.

This makes interesting reading as I'm in the market for some new boots... At the moment I have Sammy Miller boots that I've had from the age of 14 and I'm now 40. I haven't been using them for trials all that time as I've had some breaks but they've been used for festivals, paintballing, on a road bike for about 5 years and anything that involved walking through mud and they're still going strong with the only thing wrong is the thin leather waterproof liner that allows the boot to open has degraded and they now leak. Not bad for 26 year old boots. Reading all this I'n mot to sure why I'm in the market for some new boots, but the "modern" way of thinking seems to be soles without a heel and when I watch other riders this allows them to more easily shift there position on the pegs... Anyway, I'll think i will rule the Hebo's out!!

I had mine done by Splat Shop, send your barrel to them they send it off to Langcourts. When the barrel comes back to them they will select the right size piston and then post it back to you... Its very easy but you will lose the barrel for about 3 weeks.

If you haven't got / don't want to buy a compressor then one of these... http://www.clarketools-uk.com/acatalog/CEW1000-1-2--Drive-Electric-Impact-Wrench-CEW1000.html will do the job. This is what I borrowed off a mate and ended up buying one. Great bit of kit for £50.

When I replaced main bearings on my Sherco I had problems getting the clutch basket off. I remember looking at the proper tool and thinking it was expensive for what looks like 'old clutch plates' welded together... so when I replace my clutch plates in the future I will be keeping the old ones and making a tool. Chisel / grind off the friction pads and weld / bolt them together and then weld some sort of handle on. You can buy a new set of friction & plain metal clutch plates for a tad over £80 and use the old ones to make a tool. Clutch basket removed & new clutch for £10 more than the tool just to get the basket off... Like others here I used a impact drive gun to rattle the nut off. I found getting the primary gear nut off more difficult, it took about 15-20 seconds with the rattle gun before it shifted. I thought it was never going to come off!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130702917355?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_4020wt_1119

I've just purchased a set of 10 red and blue flags from to use when I go practicing as its all to easy to take the easy option out. Some of the climbs where I go practicng are more severe than the trials route I ride but the difference is on the trial there will be a sharp turn before you get to the top or bottom or there will be cross camber riding. I'm hoping that laying out practice sections will help and as an earlier poster said gradually increase the difficultly. Even a shallow bank can become difficult with imaginative flag placement! I think this affects a lot of clubman riders... Gary.

A mate has had his enduro bike stolen from his garage, here's the details: Gas Gas ec200. It is quite distinctive. Frame No VTREC2000D0230230. Yellow in colour as all the 200cc Gas Gas's. It has black 'Blackbird' graphics which have a section missing on off side tank. when taken it had race number 165 on front and both sides. Has new black 'Bike it' grips on fat bars so no cross brace. Has 'DEP' big bore front pipe and FMF silencer. The wheels have an unusual semi circular sction (no flats or shapes on the rims). It has custom made (longer in order to lower) dogbones on rear suspension links that have no markings. Marzocchi forks and protectors. New Maxxis rear tyre. Front tyre really worn and torn. Stand has weld line about 30mm or so from bottom. Front light not working (disconnected wiring). Thats about all have on it. Any help most appreciated. Contact 07757057029 or mail chris53ska@yahoo.co.uk Thanks, Chris.